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Nate Hartman and his team of Graduate students use 3-D printers to manufacture PPE devices at the Indiana Manufacturing Institute, Purdue Research Park. N95 mask prototypes, face shields, goggles and tube connectors for respirators.
(Photo: Mark Simons/courtesy of Purdue University)

WEST LAFAYETTE — Josh Tolemy was home in Chicago's west suburbs on spring break when an email inspired him to scurry two-plus hours back to Purdue's campus.

Nate Hartman is Purdue's Dauch family professor of advanced manufacturing and head of computer graphics technology as well as co-executive director of the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center.

He'd been looped into numerous emails inquiring about Purdue University's potential to help manufacture supplies for medical facilities that are suffering a shortage during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

Hartman tried to collaborate a campus-wide team, finding any lab that had machines capable of churning out n95 respirators, disposable fittings for ventilators, glasses and face masks.

Through the collaborative effort, Tolemy, a Purdue senior and prototyping lab head teaching assistant for the school's Bechtel Innovation Design Center, was looped in and wanted to help.

Bechtel's assistant director David McMillan said several students were at work the night of the initial email inquiry.

Tolemy is one of about 50 students and faculty working to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies.

"I got down Friday about a week-and-a-half ago and that next Saturday, I spent 12 hours in the lab pumping out as many designs as I possibly could to get things moving," Tolemy said. "Our work at Bechtel and all our additional labs around campus, we all came together really quickly to be able to do this."

Purdue University staff and graduate students in the Bechtel Innovation Design Center are using equipment such as 3D printers to produce medical supplies for hospitals. Frames for safety glasses and face shields have been produced and will be delivered this week.(Photo: Courtesy of Purdue University)

On Tuesday, Purdue sent out its first shipment with Franciscan Health, which has facilities in Lafayette, Crawfordsville and Rensselaer, among the initial recipients.

"We've been working with (Purdue) closely and will be picking up our first shipment (Tuesday) and they have been ramping up their production," said Craig Voll, Franciscan's manager of sports medicine. "We are in this together in regards to treating those patients while we wait for the healthcare supply chain to catch up."

Franciscan also has received a generous supply of masks from local businesses and residents. Purdue will soon start mass producing isolation gowns, Voll said.

IU Health Arnett did not comment on any workings with Purdue University to receive supplies.

Campus labs are staying busy, knowing there will be a constant and recurring need.

"We are moving as fast as we can," said Miko Cakmak, a Reilly professor of materials and mechanical engineering who is overseeing the production of face shields and safety glasses.

It was a rapid change from where those labs were just weeks earlier after Purdue had announced students would not be doing on-campus learning the rest of the semester.

"Ours is a lab that has never been busier," said Davin Huston, adviser for the experimental BoilerMAKER lab with Purdue's Polytechnic Institute. "It is something absolutely productive for our country and our state. It actually turned my mind around from being down about all of this (pandemic), to an opportunity to push and learn new things and figure out how to mass manufacture from my lab."

The Purdue labs use machines capable of 3D printing and laser scanning. Thousands of lenses and masks already have been produced.

"We've gone from zero to delivery in about two-and-a-half weeks. It's almost like standing up a start-up company in about two-and-a-half weeks," Hartman said. "There's a lot of expertise here at Purdue, a lot of ability and desire to jump into a problem and come to a consensus on a solution and begin creating a solution."

Purdue's Polytechnic Institute, Bechtel Innovation Design Center, Birck Technology Center, Envision Center for Data Perceptualization, Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, College of Engineering, College of Pharmacy and School of Nursing all have contributed to the projects.

"What has really surprised me, pleasantly, it has been a pleasant surprise that the university has come together and pulled the rope in the same direction," Hartman said.

Cakmak was adamant that, while necessary, what the university has pitched in to contribute is insignificant compared to those who are in need of the equipment.

"We feel for the nurses and doctors, they are the soldiers in this fight and we have to protect them," Cakmak said. "They are the front line fighters and are being exposed to this coronavirus and I feel for them. There are all kinds of heroes being made right now.

"There's been a lot of volunteers. This university really came together. I am amazed. We're not front line soldiers. We are just trying to help the front line soldiers and protect them as much as we can."

The question Hartman has continuously been asked is, is Purdue producing enough PPE to make a difference.

Voll believes the university is.

"We were looking at the numbers and our burn rate and you have to have a certain amount on hand," Voll said. "What we realized was we were not going to be able to get everything we wanted.

"Knowing we’ve got Purdue here helping us, we realized we are going to be OK and get through this. We are not going to have to ration PPE or put our healthcare providers in harm's way. By Purdue stepping up, that really helped. We’re going to have enough. We might not have a ton left over, but we have enough to get through this."

Contact Journal & Courier reporter Sam King at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Instagram and Twitter @samueltking.